For Tampa Bay Bucs, the healing begins

Tuesday

Williams, who tore the tendon in his left knee Sunday, after spending 14 months recuperating from a similar injury on his right knee, said this injury is not as severe as the first one.

TAMPA

Running back Carnell Williams thinks that he can be ready for training camp, while facing surgery and another rigorous offseason rehabiltation program from his second torn patellar tendon injury in as many seasons.

Williams, who tore the tendon in his left knee Sunday, after spending 14 months recuperating from a similar injury on his right knee, said this injury is not as severe as the first one.

He says he has no intention of retiring.

In fact, he's optimistic because X-rays revealed this tear was further away from the bone, making it easier to heal.

"If it's the way it was explained, it's more of the Mark Jones tear, after six, eight weeks he was rolling," Williams said Monday, referring to a former teammate who is currently a kick returner for the Carolina Panthers. "So I'm just hoping for the best."

"But it will be another grueling process for him," said Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden. "All indications are that he has a chance to be ready for training camp but it will be a long road to recovery."

Williams said that when he was injured on a 28-yard run in the fourth quarter of Sunday's season-ending 31-24 loss to the Raiders, he knew what he was in for.

"I pretty much knew it was some type of tear. I was hoping for the tear off (away from) the bone," Williams said. "I'll be good."

Williams was playing in his sixth game after returning from 14 months of rehabilitation from the right torn patellar tendon and he had scored a pair of touchdowns to help the Bucs to a 24-14 lead earlier in the fourth quarter.

"It's tough," he said. "I was getting a few carries. I was beginning to feel like my old self," said Williams, who was the NFL's 2005 Offensive Rookie of the Year.

"My right knee, which is now my good knee, is feeling good.

"It's just a freak accident. Right now I have no luck. Got a lot of bad luck right now."

The rest of the organization will be licking its wounds of another sort, dealing with an offseason of frustration the way the season fell apart as the Bucs lost their last four games after a 9-3 start, to finish 9-7 and squander a certain NFC playoff berth.

"I probably feel worse (Monday) than I did (Sunday)," Gruden said. "It's very tough, obviously. We had a 10-point lead with 10 minutes left in this game. As a coach, you have to take responsibility for that. We didn't defend the run well enough. In the last four games of the season, I think we were last in the league. We gave up more yardage rushing (756 yards, 189 yards per game) than any team in football."

It's also on Gruden that the Bucs are 3-11 in December games the past three seasons, after going 0-for-4 this month.

"We just lost to three good football teams; we lost to a team (Sunday) that has proven all season on any given Sunday they're good enough to win," Gruden said. "You give up (192) yards rushing, we have a couple opportunities to make plays in the passing game and we don't make them."

The Bucs have not made the playoffs in four of the past six seasons and have not won a playoff game since they won the Super Bowl after his first season in 2002.

Gruden has three years left on his contract and has a 57-55 regular season record in seven seasons with Tampa Bay.

"I'd just assure them that I'm doing the very best that I can and I appreciate everybody's opinion on this matter," Gruden said. "But I'm working as hard as I can and I'll continue to do that as long as I'm in this position."

There are a gamut of issues he and general manager Bruce Allen will have to address ahead of next season -- the pass rush, the running attack and the quarterback situation.

"We have to get more pass rush. We have to get more turnovers," Gruden said. "You can't start at the minus-20 (your own 20-yard line) every series and expect to have great success.

"You don't go 11 games where you don't give up a rushing touchdown and basically the final four games three different backs went for 160 yards or more.

Bucs notebook

Defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said Monday that in hindsight, he might not have announced four weeks ago that he was leaving to join his son at the University of Tennessee. It was reported by CBS and the NFL Network that Kiffin's announcement with three games left caused dissension in the Bucs' locker room. "I don't know if it was the right thing to do, or not," Kiffin said in his exit interview. "I really don't. That's hard to look back at that. But there was so much speculation, I tried to put it to rest." ...Tampa Bay's other two defensive position coaches, defensive line coach Todd Wash and linebackers coach Gus Bradley, are expected to be retained, according to Pewter Report.

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